I live and work in the People's Republic of Cambridge, near Boston, MA. I test the web gateway and web development framework for a database software firm for my day job, and sell PCBs and do electronics stuff on the side. I also own pinball machines, with all the maintenance that entails, and have made modifications to them as well.

In addition to Espruino, I do a lot of work with the Arduino platform and maintain a core that supports almost all ATTiny microcontrollers for the Arduino IDE.

I'm not a real doctor (I'd be happy to write you a prescription - but it'll be on the back of a cocktail napkin, and it'll be for a cocktail);

In a past life when I played Ragnarok Online, I wrote the AzzyAI homunculus and mercenary AI, which was used by thousands of players worldwide (ie, I'm that Azzy)

You would need to involve an external server that sees what IP is sending the request and echos it back - the devices behind a router do not know what their external IP address is (be they computers, embedded devices, or whatever).

While a little unpleasant due to the size of the parts, since all the parts you need to add are two terminal devices, it definitely can be done with an iron. Honestly, for two terminal parts, even small ones, I find soldering iron to be easier than hot-air. I only use air for large or no-lead parts.

You put a bit of solder onto one pad for each part, hold in place with tweezers, and melt the solder on that side to solder that end, then go back and solder the other end. Might not even need additional flux.